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| Company type | Home video company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Home video |
| Founded | January 1, 1968; 57 years ago (1968-01-01) |
| Founder | Andre Blay Leon Nicholson |
| Defunct | January 1982; 43 years ago (1982-01) |
| Fate | Acquired by20th Century-Fox; rebranded as20th Century-Fox Video |
| Successor | Blay Video 20th Century-Fox Video Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Studio Distribution Services |
| Headquarters | |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Pre-recorded videocassettes |
| Owner | Independent (1968–1979) 20th Century-Fox (1979–1982) |
Magnetic Video Corporation was ahome video/home audio duplication service that operated between 1968 and 1982.
Magnetic Video Corporation was established by the co-founderAndre Blay, an American film producer in 1968 with Leon Nicholson and was based inFarmington Hills, Michigan. In 1977, it became the first corporation to release theatricalmotion pictures ontoBetamax andVHSvideocassette for consumer use. (Cartridge Television, Inc. preceded it in 1972 when it introduced the AvcoCartrivision home VCR with a line of major motion pictures available for rent on the Cartrivision videocassette format. Cartrivision went off the market thirteen months after its debut.)
Magnetic Video is notable for its contribution to the birth of the modern-dayhome video empire and the birth ofvideo rental systems. In the fall of 1976, Blay came up with the idea to release pre-recorded motion pictures on videocassette. The following year, he convinced20th Century-Fox, which was then in financial difficulty, to license fifty of their films for home video release inVHS andBetamax formats. Blay also established theVideo Club of America in order to sell the titles directly to consumers by mail. Their first ad appeared in the November 26 to December 2 Issue ofTV Guide (Soap Cast on Cover).
That same year,George Atkinson bought oneBetamax and oneVHS copy of each of the first 50 movie titles from Magnetic Video that were then being sold to the public and established the Video Station rental company from a storefront in Los Angeles. He charged $50 for an "annual membership" and $100 for a "lifetime membership," which provided the opportunity to rent the videos for $10 a day.
These 50 titles were:[1]
This and similar video stores were a success, and Magnetic Video took off, adding titles from the following companies in the next four years, in addition to continuing to release original titles from Fox:
The Magnetic Video project was such a success that it soon came over to theUnited Kingdom as "Magnetic Video UK" in 1978. Not long after, Magnetic Video branched intoAustralia, trading under "Magnetic Video Australia".[citation needed]
In March 1979, Fox purchased Magnetic Video, which was a small OTC traded public company (Blay was a major shareholder and Chairman). In January 1982, shortly after Blay's departure from the company, Fox reorganized Magnetic Video into20th Century-Fox Video. Around the same time, Magnetic Video began to issue films inlaserdisc format. Later that same year, Fox merged its video operations withCBS Video Enterprises, resulting in the creation ofCBS/Fox Video on June 18, 1982.
Magnetic Video Corporation famously opened its video releases with an animation of their logo and the words "MAGNETIC VIDEO CORPORATION" repeatedly scrolling upwards and mirrored in the background, and an announcement would come over the mellow guitar and horn music playing (announcements and music might differ depending on the company):
